The Live Album Section 1975
Blue Oyster Cult On Your Feet or on Your Knees 1975 (Columbia)
Hard Rock
I thank my friends for this whip and I'll cherish it forever!
If 1974 had been starved of live albums when it came to the ‘heavy genre’ as a whole, 1975 brought them back with a vengeance and most came in the shape of cherished double albums. The Blue Oyster Cult after the excellence of their last studio album
Secret Treaties had not released a studio album in 1975 and in its stead gave us the superbly named
On Your Feet or on Your Knees live album. The album was recorded at various locations throughout their 1974 summer tour and these venues included New York, Portland, Seattle, Phoenix, Vancouver and Los Angeles.
On Your Feet or on Your Knees is a highly regarded live album from some quarters for its time and tends to be one the favourite live releases of the BOC faithful as well. But if the truth be told it’s not a live album for everybody, because the tight focus of the band’s discography over their first three albums, now gives way to a far looser and elongated approach to these same songs. As the band now for the purpose of this live album, approach the whole thing as say a band like Grand Funk would and attempt to jam their way through the majority of its twelve songs. Jamming of course is nothing new for this rocking biker band at heart, but given that the band had made their reputation on both focused and tight material, listening to this album may therefore surprise some listeners, who could be expecting one of their live albums to be similiar in its approach to that of their studio material. The bulk of the material comes from the first three studio albums and there has often been criticism on the dropping of favourites such as “Transmaniacon MC” and “Stairway to the Stars” but isn’t that often the case for live albums anyway? The album features a number of unreleased tracks such as “Buck’s Boogie” “Maserati GT (I Ain’t Got You)” and a superb booming cover of “Born to Be Wild” which serves as the curtain closer for the concert. I’m also a big fan of the album cover as both the album cover and album name perfectly sum up the image and sound of the band, but then again most things apart from this live album tended to be focused and precise by the band anyway.
Eric Bloom- Guitar/Vocals
Donald ‘Buck Dharma’ Roeser- Guitar/Vocals
Allen Lainier- Rhythm/Keyboards
Joe Bouchard- Bass
Albert Bouchard- Drums
Production- Sandy Pearlman and Murray Krugman
Various US locations 1974
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